Mild Cognitive Impairment Clinical Trials

The objective of the study is to determine the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of senolytics in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early-stage AD (Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR)=0.5 or 1) who are tau PET positive Read Less

Dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease affects approximately 5.6 million adults over age 65, with costs expected to rise from $307 billion to $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years. Behavioral interventions have shown promise for mitigating neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments. Sleep is a modifiable health behavior that is critical for cognition and deteriorates with advancing age and Alzheimer's disease. Thus, it is a priority to examine whether improving sleep modifies Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and cognitive function. Extant research suggests that deeper, more consolidated sleep is positively associated with memory and executive functions and networks that underlie these processes. Preliminary studies confirm that time-in-bed restriction interventions increase sleep efficiency and non-rapid eye movement slow-wave activity (SWA) and suggest that increases in SWA are associated with improved cognitive function. SWA reflects synaptic downscaling predominantly among prefrontal connections. Downscaling of prefrontal connections with the hippocampus during sleep may help to preserve the long-range connections that support memory and cognitive function. In pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease, hyperactivation of the hippocampus is thought to be excitotoxic and is shown to leave neurons vulnerable to further amyloid deposition. Synaptic downscaling through SWA may mitigate the progression of Alzheimer's disease through these pathways. The proposed study will behaviorally increase sleep depth (SWA) through four weeks of time-in-bed restriction in older adults characterized on amyloid deposition and multiple factors associated with Alzheimer's disease risk. This study will examine whether behaviorally enhanced SWA reduces hippocampal hyperactivation, leading to improved task-related prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity, plasma amyloid levels, and cognitive function. This research addresses whether a simple, feasible, and scalable behavioral sleep intervention improves functional neuroimaging indices of excitotoxicity, Alzheimer's pathophysiology, and cognitive performance. Read Less

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque buildup and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) in the brain, as well as widespread neurodegeneration. Amyloid-β and tau are proteins that build up in the brain that may contribute to memory problems. The evidence suggests that both amyloid and tau play a critical role in AD and interventions that reliably and safely decrease the intracerebral burden of amyloid or tau could potentially be of marked clinical importance. Currently, therapeutic options are very limited and while there are pharmacologic interventions that transiently improve cognitive function, there are no treatments that alter disease progression. The purpose of this study is to see if multiple daily sessions of non-invasive brain stimulation can affect brain activity to decrease the amount of amyloid and tau in people with AD as compared to Sham (placebo) stimulation. The type of brain stimulation that will be used is called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). This study will investigate different doses of tACS (2-4 weeks) and assess safety. The hope is that tACS will decrease the amount of amyloid and tau and improve memory and thinking in people with AD. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to identify genetic factors that contribute to or cause dementia (loss of memory) and related disorders across all ages and ethnic groups. This includes a number of neurological diseases such as early and late-onset Alzheimer disease, mild cognitive impairment, and other dementias. Read Less

Eligible older adults with Type 2 Diabetes-Mild Cognitive Impairment (T2D-MCI) will be provided a Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device and asked to share CGM data with their care partners for daily decision-making for diabetes self-management. After 2 weeks, individual interviews will be conducted in 20 participants (10 dyads). Older adults with T2D-MCI (n=10) and their care partners (n=10) will be interviewed separately to identify key features of the Care Partner-Assisted Intervention through linking continuous glucose monitoring and Mobile Health (CP-CGMH) app. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to find out if a 9 week group therapy using video from home will help veterans with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The main questions it aims to answer are: is the video therapy user-friendly for veterans? does it improve veterans well-being and quality-of-life? Veterans will be asked to attend nine 1 hour small group video sessions and will complete questionnaires before and after the sessions. Researchers will compare the group of veterans that starts the video sessions right away with a group that waits before starting the video sessions. Read Less

This study will evaluate the efficacy of working memory training in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Read Less

To investigate factors that predict cognitive enhancement following engagement in an intensive Computerized Cognitive Training Protocol. Read Less

Alcohol misuse is a risk factor for early onset cognitive impairment, contributing to 10% of early onset dementia, with risk corresponding to consumption. Additionally, continued drinking risks worsening cognitive decline and dementia progression, while worsening cognitive impairment contributes to drinking escalation. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been shown to improve cognition in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dimentias (ADRD) and separately reduce heavy drinking in alcohol use disorder. Our objective is to optimize rTMS for simultaneous mitigation of both drinking and cognitive dysfunction in older adults. Read Less

The Interventions for Brain Health Virtual Reality Study is a NIH-funded clinical research trial at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Health under the supervision of the study principal investigator Dr. Judy Pa. The overarching goal of this trial is to use a novel virtual reality (VR) based intervention that simultaneously engages physical and cognitive activity aimed at improving brain health and cognition in older adults. The investigators will compare 3 types of interventions: physical activity, VR cognitive activity, and combined VR physical and cognitive activity over 16 weeks to evaluate physical and brain health changes. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to examine safety, feasibility, and the behavioral and brain effects of a non-invasive treatment, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), for Veterans with Parkinson's disease and mild impairments in their thinking. The hypothesis is that rTMS can improve thinking for people with Parkinson's disease who are experiencing mild problems with their thinking ability. Read Less

Ketamine is a NMDA-receptor antagonist that promotes synapse formation and has been shown to rapidly improve symptoms in depression. Even a single dose of ketamine has been shown to improve depression and cognition with short-term memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and processing speed showing improvements within days of treatment. The mechanism behind ketamine's rapid action is not clear but some groups have speculated it may be related to enhanced neuroplasticity, particularly in the frontal areas and the hippocampus. If this mechanism is accurate, ketamine may be especially effective in treating mild cognitive impairment and depression (MCI-D) where changes in the hippocampus and frontal areas have been implicated. Although few studies have been published on the effects of ketamine in older adults, some small pilot studies suggest that ketamine treatment might be effective in improving depression in older adults and relatively safe. There are no studies looking at the effects of ketamine treatment in patients with MCI-D. The research team hypothesize that IV ketamine treatment will be well-tolerated and will improve depression and cognition in patients with MCI-D. The study team will explore the effects of brain imaging abnormalities and amyloid biomarker status on the responsiveness to ketamine. The study team will conduct an open-label pilot study designed to gather data to support an application for a larger NIH-funded study. Read Less